On Friday at the Vegas con fans got a great mix with very interesting behind the scenes panels with writer/producer Ira Steven Behr and producer/director David Livingston, along with fun celebrity panels, including a joint panel with the Enterprise pair of Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer, plus Diana Muldaur, and a giant panel of guest stars from various Star Trek series. See below for more details and photos.

STAR TREK LAS VEGAS CON FRIDAY RECAP

By John Tenuto, Kayla Iacovino and Erica Anderson

Ira Steven Behr

Friday’s appearance by Deep Space Nine producer, writer, and showrunner Ira Steven Behr was one of his first ever at a Star Trek fan event, but hopefully not his last. During an interview by Creation Entertainment’s Adam Malin and questions by the audience, Behr shared stories about his career that spans shows as diverse as Fame (which Behr mentioned was the precursor to Glee) and The 4400. Throughout the discussion, many interesting bits of Star Trek history were revealed.

Behr was a fan of Star Trek before being asked to write for The Next Generation during its earlier seasons. He turned down the offer the first time because he wasn’t keen on the idea of being restricted by some of the rules imposed on writers. When Michael Piller took over the writing aspect of TNG, Behr took a chance to work on the program. He mentioned that on his first day, he was given some pages about an action scene involving Jefferies Tubes (which Behr joked he thought was some kind of intestinal problem). He had no idea how the scene fit into the rest of the script. He rewrote it and brought to Michael Piller who liked it, but Behr remembers being very nervous those first few days.

He left TNG after about a year, unhappy with the rules he had trepidation about. In fact, Behr discussed some interesting philosophy about rules being good ideas at the time they are created, but that rules could and should be changed or ignored when writing creatively if the situation is right. It is interesting to contrast Behr’s ideas about the hindrance of rules on creativity to that of fellow Trek scribe and the director of Star Treks II and VI, Nicholas Meyer, who believes that art thrives on limitations. Perhaps the ideas are contrasting, perhaps they are not. Somewhere in there is an academic paper waiting to be written!

Behr stayed in touch with Michael Piller. One day, the two of them were at a Dodgers game, and Piller, who had repeatedly been asking Behr what work he was currently doing, casually told Behr that he would like him to come onboard a new show called Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that was going to be created which was much more like his sensibilities, and that in two years, Behr would be the showrunner. Hilariously, Behr said that he has no idea what the score of that game was because he was in shock and so happy about the offer.

Behr spoke about the incredibly talented cast of actors and creative behind the scenes artists who produced the show, calling his seven years with DS9 an amazing experience. He spoke about how on the last day he couldn’t leave, telling someone on set that he had his entire life not to be there anymore, and he wanted to stay as long as he could, literally leaving when the last of the sets were being struck. He loved the show and the people that much.

His time on stage ending, Adam Malin invited Behr back for next year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of DS9 and it is an invitation fans hope can be accepted.

Before leaving, Behr asked the audience for a favor. In easily one of the most emotional and best moments of any Star Trek convention, Behr asked the audience, on the count of three, to think the words "Hey, Michael Piller" in reference to the incredibly talented and important producer/writer of TNG, and arguably one of the people who helped save the franchise. Piller had died almost a decade ago of cancer, a painful loss. Behr counted "1, 2, 3" and silence filled the room. You could feel a wave of thoughts being sent as a few thousand people’s ideas all reflected the same notion. Behr looked upward, and with a breaking voice, said "Michael, you hear that?" We all did, and we know Piller did, too.

Behr then signed autographs for hundreds of fans for free, taking pictures and chatting with each. From my own perspective, I could say Mr. Behr is not only the showrunner of a favorite television show, he became this weekend part of a wonderful memory of what Star Trek is all about.

David Livingston

Another behind the scenes luminary appearing on Friday was David Livingston who was a supervising producer on Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek The Next Generation, along with being the director for dozens of episodes from the TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise series. Livingston talked about how he began with TNG at the beginning as a production manager, which put him in charge of budget and crew. When it came to the role of the director, Livingston noted that on Star Trek it was the his job to shoot what was on the page, "the scripts were locked," so ad-libbing or changes weren’t really part of the experience. However, he noted how it was the director’s job to give life to the words on the page by deciding on how to shoot each scene.

Discussing favorite episodes that he directed, he cited "The Killing Game" for Voyager and "Crossover" for DS9. He also generally liked episodes where characters were possessed by something or in an alternative universe. Discussing DS9’s "The Visitor" he revealed that they initially considered using Cirroc Lofton (in heavy make up) to play the part of the older Jake, but he was glad they brought in Tony Todd who was "totally committed to the role and cried in every take."

Garrett Wang

Star Trek Voyager’s Garrett Wang was on hand at the show. He appeared on stage and made sure the fans new about the T-Shirts his new company had that he was selling in the dealers room.

While taking questions Wang revealed that even though he can, he didn’t actually play clarinet on Voyager…and he wasn’t happy about that. He also noted he regretted not taking the King of Jordan up on an invitation to visit the country, after the King did his cameo on the series (Picardo and Phillips did go to Jordan). Talking about the relationships on set, the actor said he and Robert Beltran were the closest, because they were the only single guys. However he and the rest of the guys from Voyager still get together regularly for dinner. Wang likes to do impressions and he said he even did his Janeway impression in front of Kate Mulgrew, who thought it was pretty good. Surprisingly Wang said the most challenging thing he ever did in Star Trek was on the independent fan film Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, but that was mostly due to there being no AC on the humid set.

Garrett also hung around long enough to intro the next panel…

Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer

Enterprise stars Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer had a joint appearance and you could still see the great chemistry they had as Malcolm and Trip on the NX-01. The pair joked around a bit on stage and also spoke about how there was a lot of practical joking on the set of Enterprise. Dom’s favorite was when they found an old Canada Dry commercial Scott Bakula did playing the Canada Dry Man and they set it up to play on every monitor on the bridge of the Enterprise.

The pair reveled some behind the scenes stuff about the series. Connor said that the scene where T’Pol drops her robe in front of trip was actually not Jolene Blalock but a stand in, so he didn’t get to see her naked. The pair talked fondly of the episode "Shuttlepod One" which was essentially a two man play for them. Apparently the crew applauded the actors after they shot the episode (something rarely done on set). Connor revealed that originally Trip was a bit of a "dumb Southerner" but he felt that wasn’t the right thing for someone who headed Engineering so the producers were open to his suggestion to change that.

Talking about current projects,

Connor is doing voice over work for HP computers, whereas Keating recently finished voicing the character Templar for Diablo 3. Keating also did a guest role on Breakout Kings and is doing a new movie with Harvey Keitel.

And in one of the expanded features of the con, the pair also did a dramatic reading together.

Diana Muldaur

Friday also had a rare con appearance for Diana Muldaur who had a guest roles on the original Star Trek in the 60s ("Return to Tomorrow" and "Is There in Truth No Beauty?") and then came back as a regular for Star Trek: The Next Generation in her role as Chief Medical Officer Katherine Pulaski. Muldaur described working on TOS as "marvelously original" and noted "it was just plain fun." Comparing the two series, the actress said she found TNG to be much more technical and less about people than TOS, but she still found TNG fascinating. Commenting on the role of Polaski, Muldaur said "she was fun."

Specifically regarding her roles in the original series (playing a psychologist and a astrobiologist) she noted it was a "huge breakthrough" to play against the norm as successful career women. The actress also talked about how things were a bit chaotic when shooting "Is There in Truth No Beauty" as the script had been thrown out and they filmed it scene by scene but out of order as Gene wrote a script during production.

Making History Group Panel

Some of Star Trek’s unsung heroes — the supporting characters — took the stage this afternoon to share their collective years of experience working on Trek. The large group consisted of Andrew Robinson (Garak), Eddie Paskey (Lt. Leslie, "the" classic redshirt on TOS appearing in 57 episodes), Patti Yasutake (Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, TNG), Alexander Enberg (Ensign Vorik on VOY,young reporter on TNG’s Time’s Arrow Part II, and Ensign Taurik on TNG’s Lower Decks), Michael Barrier (DeSalle from TOS episodes "The Squire of Gothos," "This Side of Paradise," and "Catspaw"), Arlene Martel (T’Pring from "Amok Time"), and Elizabeth Dennehy (TNG’s Lt. Cmdr. Elizabeth Paula Shelby in "The Best of Both Worlds" Parts I & II).

Each one of them expressed their thanks and gratitude to the fans, explaining that their careers were very influenced by Star Trek and its success. "When I booked the part," said Dennehy, "someone said to me ‘you have no idea what is about to happen to your life’. And, no I didn’t!" Robinson said that he felt he had betrayed the character of Garak in the later seasons saying "I made him too lovable." Martel, who was originally called in for the pilot, said that the role of T’Pring affected her strongly. "It was the first time I played a woman who was intellectually centered rather than emotional. It changed my life."

Arlene Martell

Andrew Robinson

Patti Yasutake

Eddie Paskey

Michael Barrier

Alexander Enberg

Geek Girls

Friday also featured TrekMovie’s Kayla on the "Geek Girl" panel where she was joined by Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein, along with DVD Geek’s Mary Czerwinski and Bye Bye Robot’s Charity Wood.

I had met Andrew Robinson at a convention fourteen years ago. Nice chap. Got his autograph. He stated how much he disliked the Mirror Garak, as he just wasn’t interesting like the “regular” Garak. Robinson also read portions of a Garak-centered story to the audience.

He was also great as the serial killer in “Dirty Harry”, which I watched a few nights ago.

He also guest starred on an episode of “The X-Files”, in which he played a man who turned into a man-eating wolf.

I’ve never heard about Diana Muldaur leaving the set in tears, but she’s implied in interviews that with the exception of Michael Dorn and Patrick Stewart she was treated fairly shabby by the rest of the cast largely because she was paid more than most of the cast.

I thought Pulaski brought a freshness to TNG that had been lacking. She was the only regular character who wasn’t “nice” and wanting to get along. She just wanted to do her job and was refreshingly candid and direct. I wish that she had stayed. Sorry that she was mistreated.

#2 Director Paul Lynch (who did Unnatural Selection) mentioned it in an interview a long time ago. He said that Muldaur was a very nice lady, but she did have some trouble remembering some of the technobabble lines and had cue cards for her.

He also said that some of the castmembers treated Muldaur very badly and she sometimes left the set in tears. She felt very alone on TNG.

Muldaur has said in the past she could get along with Dorn and Stewart pretty well. In an 1999 interview Diana Muldaur claimed her experience on TNG was like a nightmare…

Diana Muldaur was a well known actress in the 80’s, so she got payed a little more than some of the other actors and they became jealous.

Luckily for her she had a teriffic experience after TNG with L.A. Law.

i’ll echo that i actually like pulaski more than crusher. better actress, brought some spice into the relationships, and was just plain fun. i was sad she wasn’t in nemesis (at least a cameo, even as awful as the movie was) and that she didn’t continue on. i still like crusher, to a degree, and she was written better after jeri taylor came on board, but i wish we could have seen more of pulaski.

When Diana Muldaur came aboard TNG in season 2, me and my friends were like, “Yes! The powers that be see what we see…Crusher was a boring character and poor Gates just isn’t a very good actress…they’ve wished up and replaced her!”. We were ecstatic…even if she was a MCCoy retread…the writer’s fault, not hers…she remained a very competent actress,a TOS veteran and those eyes…those beautiful expressive eyes. Then they canned her and brought back the bland and expressionless McFadden. Typical of the many head-scratching decisions that formed the enigma that was TNG.
Great seeing Eddie Paskey up there…and I would’ve loved to ask Michael Barrier why we never saw more of DeSalle….I always thought he delivered a strong performance and would’ve made a good permanent addition to the cast.

Diana Muldaur is one classy lady and a great actress. She was probably treated badly by some of TNG cast members because of jealousy of her acting talents. The women of TNG (Crosby, McFadden, and particularly Sirtis) were inadequate actresses, especially in the early years of TNG, and it was so great to see a strong women (Muldaur) with acting chops join the TNG cast. I was sorry to see her leave TNG, but who can blame her for wanting to leave a mean set.

@ 8 Unfortunately that’s not terribly surprising, Diana Muldaur was a regular working actress who was in fairly high demand for guest starring roles on TV during the 80s. She had just come off of semi-regular guest starring roles in Quincy M.E. and Hart to Hart, so of course she’s going to get bigger money than most of her co-stars on TNG.

I always loved the character of Pulaski and I felt the role, while somewhat of a retread of Bones, was a much needed shot of energy the cast sorely lacked.

The problem TNG suffered, especially early on, was the complete lack of character disagreement that any drama inherently needs. Gene’s edict that everyone gets along is fine, but the notion their aren’t going to be disagreements over how to approach an issue is laughable. Pulaski addressed that shortcoming.

Pulaski took on the negative attitudes toward Data that Riker had early in Season 1, but were mysteriously dropped by mid-season, and through a numer of key episodes in Season 2 we slowly saw her attitude toward Data evolve. That’s what the show needed, a little more human drama which Pulaski provided… but unfortunately Crusher came back in season 3.

I like the note about Nicholas Myer…but I have to say that my philosphy now is that while both Ira, and Nicholas have good points, it is the conflict between the two ways of thinking that will produce the best scripts and story ideas.

Diana Muldaur, if I’m not mistaken, was meant as a recurring character. That’s why you didn’t see her name in the main title credits. She was listed as “Special Guest Star”.

As for the conflict between the actors, I figure it was probably Marina Sirtis who was the big problem. She’s said some pretty nasty things about J.J Abrams, and has repeatedly demanded to appear in the next movies even though they take place in an alternat timeline past, and have nothing to do with her or her character. She also suggests that masses of people are clamoring for her to be the voice of the computer in the sequel when in fact, it was only a few die hard fans who suggested the idea.

There seems to be one of these types in most of the casts. George Takei from TOS, Garrett Wang and Robert Beltran from “Voyager”, and Marina Sirtis from TNG. They all seem to have developed petty jealousies for some reason. And they all have one thing in common: They cannot find any work in Hollywood outside of Trek.

DS9 and ENT were the only shows where no one had any feelings of jealousy towards (a) fellow cast mate or mates.

Everyone, thanks for this great update. Of the ones you covered I was only able to get to Diana Muldaur’s panel because of other panels I had to get to (and was only able to be at the show Friday and Saturday due to professional commitments) and I really appreciate the reporting.

Diana Muldaur is an acting legend, one of the greats, and I’m saddened to hear the stories in these comments about how some treated her. Hopefully time healed some of those wounds.

Interesting insight Muldaur gives into the shooting of “Is There In Truth No Beauty?” That one always had kind of chaotic, loosely structured feel to it IMO, and now we know why. Interesting that Roddenberry himself was rewriting it, as my understanding was that he was very ‘hands off’ with the 3rd season’s writing/production chores. Intriguing…

“Is There In Truth…” always reminded me a bit of TNG’s season one’s “Where No One Has Gone Before,” which I understand Roddenberry also rode herd over that one as well, as it changed significantly from Diane Duane’s original premise. Both have authorized ‘outsiders’ come aboard the ship who are a bit unstable (Larry Marvick, Kozinsky) and accidentally plunge the ship into a null void/zone/dimension. And both required the use of mental powers and the help of a benign observer (Kolos, The Traveler) to bring their respective ships back to ‘normal’ space.

I personally liked Muldaur’s Pulaski, as well. I wouldn’t trust Crusher to take care of a cat with a thorn in it’s paw, to be honest; she was borderline incompetent, and reminded me a bit too much of Barbara Bain’s annoying Helena Russell in SPACE: 1999. The only problem with Pulaski was how she was written; so close to DeForest Kelly’s McCoy (even down to the fear of transporters) that comparisons were inevitable. But I believe that Pulaski’s issues were NO fault of the actress; she did a sensational job.

“Diana Muldaur, if I’m not mistaken, was meant as a recurring character. That’s why you didn’t see her name in the main title credits. She was listed as “Special Guest Star”. ”

Muldaur chose to be listed as a guest start and not be in the main title credits. I have no idea why this is, what reason there might be (maybe trying not to piss off the main cast?) or if it has to do with pay or whatnot, but it was her choice to be credited in this way — not a signal that she’s just a recurring character.

I just bought DS9’s 7 seasons and am watching them start to finish while I am recuperating from my second hip replacement in 5 years.
DS9 is the best Trek series by a wide margin. It was always about the people with the tech and technobabble taking a back seat in 90- 95% of the episodes, and the people were far more interesting- and flawed- than in any other Trek series.
The mythology grew, added to episode- by- episode, which also made it unique. There were never any guarantees that the character reset would be reached at the end of the episode. These people grew and advanced and changed, much the same as people do in real life.

Re: Diana Muldaur:
I also wonder why the big coverup behind Gates McFadden’s departure after the first season? The real reason she left was not because Maurice Hurley didn’t like her. Hurley never had that much authority on the series, he was a showrunner and not much more.
Gene Roddenberry’s ceaseless sexual harassment of her is one of the reasons McFadden gave in an interview once- and only once- and then the armada closed up around Roddenberry to protect the Legend.
Hurley had just as much power and influence in season 3 as he did in season 2, so that story makes no sense at all.
Roddenberry on the other hand, had pretty much withdrawn from the production due to his failing health by season 3 and McFadden was welcomed back to her role.
It would not shock me to hear that Denise Crosby left for the same reason. It just sounds so hollow when she says she wasn’t being given anything to do. Her character and background was developed strongly all through season 1, much more so than even Jonathan Frakes’ Riker.
That Roddenberry insisted she be killed off is another indicator that there was some sort of friction between her and Roddenberry.
McFadden was smarter in the way she jumped ship, waiting until after the season was over, not giving them the opportunity to kill her off onscreen as well.

but, i do think tasha was given little to do in the second half of the season. it really is mostly “hailing frequencies open, sir.”

at the same time, i agree that she got as much of an arc that first season as anyone (which is to say, most didn’t). i would have enjoyed seeing her stay…but…worf is also my favorite, so who knows what would have happened to his character had tasha remained the security chief!

“Diana Muldaur, if I’m not mistaken, was meant as a recurring character. That’s why you didn’t see her name in the main title credits. She was listed as “Special Guest Star”. ”

Muldaur was a main character. She was listed as special guest star because technically as a well established character actress, she would have been granted a higher billing place probably either before or right after LeVar Burton. I believe several of the actors objected to this so Diana accepted being billed as a Special Guest Star.

#26,
Hurley was GONE from the show after season 2, so he wasn’t around to hassle OR ignore McFadden. CFQ magazine interviews I remember from the 90s suggest that he fell prey to the same revolving door that knocked so many other creatives off the show in seasons 1 & 2 …

As for the Meyer ‘art thriving on restriction,’ you gotta remember the CONTEXT for that remark. He was talking about making his films with almost no money … not that he felt compelled to keep the characters in line with what somebody else dictated. Shoot, I’d say he felt compelled to do anything but, if you consider the character assassination he pulled on Kirk in TUC. At the time of TWOK, he said he only felt compelled to include stuff in his trek from what went before if he liked it and it worked … he felt NO ALLEGIANCE to include stuff just because star trek has that in it.

And sometimes Meyer used words and phrases that would be open to interpretation, I’ll grant that. I interviewed him very briefly once, right after TUC was greenlit, and after discussing the ‘leftover set’ factor (yeah, art not QUITE thriving on restrictions on that show), when I asked about a visual style for the film, he said he wanted it to be “very theatrical.”

What I took (wrongly) from that was that due to lack of money, he was going to do parts of TUC almost like THE EMPATH, against black velvet or something very inexpensive, like a theater production, which seriously freaked me out (I was nervous enough just interviewing the guy by phone, but that response, along with one other, really threw me for a loop.) In retrospect, I guess he meant he wanted it to be very cinematic, but the word theatrical was for him I guess suggesting ‘looks like a big theatrical movie.’

Back on topic: I don’t think there’s any conflict between what these guys were saying. Behr didn’t want to have to hear another of those ‘OUR characters wouldn’t do that’ spiels, not any more than Meyer wanted to take story notes from GR about Saavik. Art may thrive on restriction, but it will also choke on restrictive unproductive interference and, as Mr. Gerrold once observed, the tame deadendedness of format becoming formula.

I think we need to be clear here. Nick Meyer and Ira Behr were talking about two different things. Behr was referring to the constraints imposed on TNG writers (e.g. there can’t be any conflict among the main characters, etc). These were arbitrary rules governing what some thought Trek should and shouldn’t be. Nick Meyer was originally ignorant of Trek canon, and has never advocated for strict adherence to rules imposed upon the creative process, especially those that contradict the tenents of good storytelling (e.g. interpersonal conflict = drama). His comment that “art thrives on limitations” has usually been made in the context of budget and other real world constraints that can force writers to find creative solutions to enhance the narrative.

I don’t think either man would disagree with the comments of the other. Both writers used their opportunies at the helm to prioritize good storytelling above all else. In the process, they helped Trek break some “rules,” take some risks, and grow.

#1 & #11: I have a source whom I won’t name since he hasn’t gone on the record, but he confirms what you shared.

Back in the late 1990s, when we were chatting about his work on TNG, he told me that Diana Muldaur was treated shabbily by all the members of the cast. I was shocked to hear this, so I asked, “You mean, even Patrick Stewart, too?” He nodded yes. I still find this hard to believe, but he was insistent. He, too, mentioned that she often left the set in tears. When I asked why the rest of the cast would act this way toward her, especially since she had a long history with Trek, he said they were still pissed off by the fact that Gates was fired, and Diana’s presence on the set was a constant reminder of that fact.

That’s why you never got an explanation of what happened to Pulaski when the 3rd season began; some of the higher-ups didn’t like the character, either.

I absolutely loved Diana Muldaur as Dr. Pulaski. Although the writing for Dr Crusher improved greatly when she came back, Muldaur was miles ahead of Gates’ season one performance. I hate the way her character was treated after she left…she was like Chuck Cunningham from Happy Days, never referenced again (except for once) after she left. Even in some official art for TNG that has every cast member in it, from Tasha to Q to Ensign Ro, they almost always seem to leave Kate Pulaski off as if she was some kind of embarrassment. She was anything but. I even remember back in the day, when season 7 of TNG was bringing back old guest stars to give them closure (like Ro Laren and Wesley and even Tasha Yar in the final episode) I was hoping we’d see Kate Pulaski have a proper send off, but no….treated like the red headed step child till the very end. Shameful.

I always saw Muldaur’s Pulaski as an attempt to recapture McCoy. If you remember, her character originally did not take much of a liking to Data. I think it was a noble attempt by Roddenberry – one that probably should have been done at the beginning of the series – but in all honesty the chemistry between Muldaur and the rest of the cast just wasn’t there.

I also think that her not being included in all of the recent TNG reunion panels speaks for itself.

Fascinating insight about “Is There In Truth No Beauty” which, in spite of its occasional soapiness, I always considered to be one of the best (and perhaps overall best-written) episodes of TOS’ third season.

I wish there was a little more depth and detail in these convention wrap-up reports. Somebody told me that, during his convention appearance, the actor who played Lt. DeSalle discussed HIS involvement in the famous story of Shatner stealing Nimoy’s bicycle. That’s a piece of the story I’d never heard before. So — for those of you who were at the convention — what exactly did Michael Barrier say regarding this incident?

21, I would respectfully disagree. I like Gates McFadden’s character. But then again, I liked Barbara Bain’s character, Helena Russell, in Space: 1999, as well. Just a matter of differences in opinion, I suppose.

Speaking of Space: 1999, when are they ever gonna remake that? Doctor Who, another British SF franchise, has been around for a thousand years over the course of a zillion incarnations (literally), and we can’t get a single sequel for S1999? (Yes, I do like the fan-created farewell that wrapped it up, but (a.) is it canon? (Some indubitably say so, but officially?) and (b.) the farewell is poignant, but I would like more. Say, a movie or an entire series.

I think Nicholas Meyer would agree with Ira Stephen Behr actually. I think the limitations Meyer was referring to were things like time and budget, which let to creative solutions in the writing and directing process. I think Behr might disagree with him on those types of limitations, but I think that they’d agree that one shouldn’t be beholden to tradition. Meyer also said in the commentary track that his job was not to cry, but to make the audience cry. I think they’d agree that you can’t be afraid of doing something to the characters due to one’s affection for them.

Diana Muldaur is lovely. I remember my disappointment whenTNG brought Crusher back — not that I disliked McFadden. BUT, as if having to put up with that Wesley boy weren’t punishment enough, some of those mother/son scenes in seasons one and three were cringe-inducing.

Now that I think of it, they should have kept both Dr. Crusher and Dr. Pulaski and sent the boy off with the traveler after season two so he and his special friend could do their time-and-space bump anywhere but on the ship.

Anthony, I’m pissed off about that fact as well. I was very much looking forward to Saturday and Sunday coverage! Now if they had TOLD US BEFOREHAND there would be no Saturday or Sunday coverage of the STLV con then I wouldn’t be pissed off!

This site is puzzling. In many ways it’s outstanding. Frequent visits here by Bob Orci is testament to that. But when they profess to report on all things Trek and then drop the ball on coverage of THE Trek fan event of the year is rather odd to say the least.

And then there are those unannounced “vacations” when the site isn’t updated for weeks at a time. With no explanation before, during or after. Head-scratching.

Yes, this site is becoming very disappointing in that regard, Anthony. I don’t mind if the writers/editors/staff etc take a break. I would like, however, to be TOLD they’re taking a break instead if having everyone come here scratching their heads when nothing is updated for weeks at a time. The fact that they don’t tell us they’re taking a break, then go on as if everything is just fine in the universe without so much as an explanation of whatever it is that left the site without updates for however long they took their unannounced break annoys me even more. I might as well get my news from StarTrek.com. Hell, they seem to be providing more news than trekmovie these days, though a bit late.

I agree with the esteemed peeps before me. All we’re going to get is a “TrekMovie is back with….”, with nothing else. It’s pretty shitty to not cover the big con of the year. Hopefully if Kaylai is back in England for Star Trek: London in October, she’ll be able to keep us up to date as it’s actually happening.

That is so true. I asked Pascale why was he suddenly jumping on the Prometheus bandwagon all of a sudden when the movie came out, and he said he wasn’t. Said he’d been reporting on it the whole way, and was often covered in the Sci-Fi Movies articles. I don’t think embeding a couple of trailers counts, and the Sci-Fi articles came back for maybe two weeks at the start of the summer, and haven’t been seen since.

And there won’t be one this time either. The next article will start with “And TrekMovie is back with exclusive pictures of how Zoe Saldana wipes her bum!”, people will ask why no articles or Tweets in over a week, and no one will answer. At this rate, it is going to take them ages to get through the S1 reviews of the Blu-Ray Next Gen reviews.

Who the hell are you entitled little Internet weenies (oh look, I just answered my own question)? You get free Trek news off this site, and you have the gall to complain when you don’t get what you want? Absolutely pathetic.

I just look forward to new articles telling us that the IDW people are going down with Mirror Universe road with the series, and show us the cover with Quinto sporting a very sexy Mirror Spock beard. Or the one with Doctor Who going back to Wolf 359. Or the Borg Queen vs. the Borg Queen in Braga’s miniseries.

Good thing I didn’t read about it almost everywhere else on the Internet a few days ago! Now I can have myself a real nerdgasm when the time comes for TrekMovie to report the news!

Other folks and sites will step up. The prometheus-movie site is now expanding into a whole series of SF related sites (ROBOCOP one is already up), and I guess they’re looking to do this for all the other SF franchises as well.

I haven’t had any posts deleted there, either, though twice in the last couple of weeks I posted in a thread (the second time repeating what was in the first) without the posts staying in for any period of time at all. Can’t figure out if I stumbled onto a spoiler with goofball speculation or if it is something else.

I don’t really have a problem with this site. If there is no news…well, there is no news. Perhaps Anthony is just waiting for the really important news re the new Star Trek movie sequel before he posts a new thread. Then he did say he will give a full report on the Convention at Las Vegas – perhaps it’s taking more time to do than he thought, or more likely, more pressing matters, like work that pays the bills, need to be dealt with first.

My “bone to pick” is with the Star Trek sequel makers and it is not to do with not getting trailers, knowing who the villain is or any of that nonsense. Expecting such information when the movie is still in its post-production phase could be considered a little presumptuous.

What I did ask for, way back in December last year, was a photo of all the cast assembled together. I did not expect them to be in costume, especially if that would mean a spoiler, ie giving away the race/identity of the Benedict Cumberbatch character for instance. However, a photo of all in their civies would be great. So far, nearly nine months have gone by and still no photograph for my desktop.

Now, at this point, given that principal photography has been completed, how hard would it have been to get all of them together (or even the main seven) for a couple of snap shots? After all, these people are used to having their photos taken…;)

WHERE IS MY DESKTOP PHOTO of my Captain and his good crew (at the very least)?

“Actually, the Starfleet briefing room scene in TUC was shot much like ‘The Empath’ was! A few set-pieces and a large black void.”

I actually work in a large black room just like that, at a Police detachment in Canada. All black walls, with a few projection screens on the walls, and a small boardroom in the corner. When I first started working there, my first thought was that it looked like the room from TUC.

Wow, great additions to the con. Hopefully Creation brings Ira out to some other cons like Chicago or the East coast. Especially with the big TNG con coming up in Chicago or the predominant DS9 one in Philly.